Dr. Gil Rogers Scholarship Fund: Honoring my father’s life

Dr. Gil Rogers passed away on Dec. 14, 2013 [just two days ago]. Gil was my father. He devoted his life to education, teaching valuable life lessons and serving anonymously through the Marine’s Toys for Tots program, KidSAKE, community programs [libraries, schools, cultural arts] and elsewhere. Last spring, his contributions made it possible for KidSAKE to send a team to Honduras and continue with the microenterprise project at Clementina’s soup kitchen. The project [raising chickens for meat–both for the soup kitchen and for sale/profit] isn’t finished. We need to complete the wall around the perimeter of the property to keep the chickens and garden safe. Dania Padilla will be managing the coop and we set up a scholarship fund in my dad’s name [I discussed this with him last summer, wanting his approval] so that we could begin to help [one at a time] those who couldn’t afford it, continue their education. Dania’s dream is to become a nurse. She is 35 and age 36 is the cut off date for students in Honduras to enter the nursing program. School starts in February and she has registered…having faith that we will be successful in raising the necessary funds for her to go. We seek to raise $4500. This will pay for her tuition, uniform, books, travel to and from school and help to offset the lack of income to her family while she is in school. We were able to pull $1,000 from my father’s donation in the summer and we have raised a bit more since then through the sale of items in our shop, Art for Good. I hope you would consider adding to this fund, not just for Dania, but for others we identify who are striving to serve in their communities whether in the U.S., Honduras, or elsewhere, that may be in need of support to reach a dream.

If you would like to donate, you can do so safely through PayPal online, please send us a note letting us know that you would like your donation to be applied to the scholarship fund.

Thank you so much for honoring my father in this way and for serving Dania–who is doing what she can to help the women in her village have a better life through this microenterprise and her service at the soup kitchen. We will post more of her story soon.

Responses

Jenny,
I was saddened this morning when I saw your father’s obituary in the Lewistown Sentinel. Several years ago, I taught adult ESL (English-as-a-Second Language) classes in Mifflintown (about 15 minutes from Lewistown). Your father often came to the classes as an observer so that he could improve his Spanish. We had many chats about a variety of topics. He was an interesting man. And, he obviously cared deeply about our Latino community and the struggles that they experienced. I regret that I lost contact with him.

I extend to you my sincerest sympathy. I know the pain of losing a loving, caring father. My dad died almost 10 years ago at the age of 81. Today (December 17) would be his 91st birthday. I still miss him terribly. To honor the memory of both of our fathers, I’m making a donation to Dania’s scholarship fund.